


Unlearning Untruths

by LemonBubble



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Carlos Whump, M/M, Minor and really not graphic at all torture, re education, very minor but whump all the same
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-28 00:10:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonBubble/pseuds/LemonBubble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos had never been re-educated before. Turns out it's not fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unlearning Untruths

Carlos blinked slowly awake. His mouth was dry and he seemed to be strapped to something - a table maybe? He tried moving and discovered that there were straps around his chest, middle, legs, and, apparently, some kind of wires coming from his head. Ah. That… wasn’t good. Wherever he was, there wasn’t enough light. He could only just see the wires if he turned his head the right way, but he couldn’t tell if there was anyone else in the room.

“Um. Hello? W-where am I? What’s going on?” He asked. There was a faint _click_ , followed by pain. Lots of pain. It stopped after what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds.

“Don’t ask questions. We ask the questions here.” A rough voice said out of the darkness.

“Who are you?” Carlos asked. He shouted and writhed against his bonds as the pain returned. _Probably electrocution_ , a detached, logical part of his brain said.

“Don’t speak unless spoken to.” The voice said when the pain stopped.

“Wh-” Carlos started, and was quickly cut off by another shock.

“You know, for a scientist, he’s not very smart.” A new voice said, sounding amused. It was higher than the first voice, nasal, the kind of voice that whined no matter it’s actual tone. Carlos scowled in it’s general direction, since he wasn’t allowed to comment.

“You have been brought here for citizen’s re-education.” The first voice said, ignoring the second’s comment. “You know the reason for this. Why have you been detained?” It sounded like it had said this a thousand times before.

Carlos frantically tried to think through the cloud of pain-fog that was forming in his head. He’d never been re-educated before. What things were worthy of re-education? What could he have done in the last few days? Was there some asinine law change that he had missed? He couldn’t think of anything.

“I… don’t know?” He answered honestly and was rewarded with another shock. He shivered and panted when it stopped, trying to keep his breathing under control, knowing he was already on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Don’t play dumb with us, Mr Scientist, we know you know what you did wrong.” The nasally voice said.

“I don’t!” Carlos insisted, and was rewarded with another shock. Tears of pain and terror ran down his face. Did they really expect him to know why he was here? If he couldn’t work it out… would they just keep him here? How long would this take? He was sure he was hyperventilating now.

“Come on, Mr Scientist, we don’t have all day.” The rough voice said, sounding a little bored.

“I-I have an exemption for the pens.” Carlos said, trying to think of anything, anything at all, that he could have done wrong. Another shock. “I’ve already been to Big Rico’s this week. Was… d- is it something that isn’t supposed to exist? Did I break a new law? Please tell me!” Each sentence was answered with another shock, leaving Carlos constantly shaking between jolts and barely able to say anything.

“What did you do wrong, Mr Scientist?” The rough voice asked again, calmly, if a little impatiently.

“Muh-my last n-name isn’t ‘S-scientist’.” Carlos stuttered through the shaking. It was all he could think to say, and he got another shock for it. “P-please. I d-d-don’t know w-what I did.” This time he got a disgruntled sigh and some muttering in response.

“We’ll take a ten minute break.” The rough voice grumbled. There was the sound of movement and a sliver of light as a door was opened and closed. Carlos was left alone.

-

Hours later (minutes? Days? Considering how time worked in Night Vale, it could have been anything), Carlos found himself at the Pinkberry, with no memory of how he got there. A half finished frozen yoghurt sat in front of him and Cecil sitting across from him, holding his hand on the table. His head ached.

“Cecil? How did I-” Carlos put his hand to his head and found a bandage there. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” Cecil said confidently, reassuringly.

“But… there was… I don’t…”

“ _Nothing happened._ ” Cecil insisted, squeezing his hand. Carlos looked up and finally noticed the urgent look in his eyes. He nodded slowly.

“Nothing happened.” He agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> So I woke up this morning and I thought "let's torture Carlos", and that's what this is.
> 
> It's not very good because I'm seriously out of practice, I haven't written anything of any length since April and I haven't written fanfiction since last year so, go easy I guess?


End file.
